Brighton duo harnesses game-based teaching and learning approach to boost student employability

In a paper published in the Journal of Chemical Education, Patel - Professor of Clinical and Bioanalytical Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences – lays out insights gained as part of a 10-year study into an approach based on the long-running BBC TV series.

Enhancing student employability is a key aspect of any chemistry based degree; however, embedding such activities in the curriculum is often challenging. Placements or experiential visits are the most widely used approach, but these are not always fully inclusive – and have also been impacted by COVID restrictions.

“Our study utilizes a game-based learning activity based on the TV show The Apprentice to conduct work-integrated learning,” explains Patel. “Working in teams, students evaluate the performance of two different chromatography analytical columns and are asked to generate various marketing materials to highlight the performance of one column over the other. This includes creating an infomercial and marketing flyer before finally pitching their findings to an expert panel. This... provides a creative platform...to showcase a range of employability skills.”

Professor Bhavik Patel

Dr Ponikwer added: “The approach taken is highly inclusive and provides exposure to transferable employability skills to all students. Most importantly, the design of this activity is suitable across all disciplines of study – and showcases innovation in our teaching and learning to support students.”

The students themselves saw the real-life work-based content of this approach as significantly enhancing their employability and helping secure jobs. A selection of comments included:

“I used to explain this task in interviews and it really impressed the employers. I think it must have helped, as speaking to others they think it’s seriously novel.”

“This made me more ready for interviews...and gave me more awareness of what I could do with my career. I was able to use this as a great example of my awareness of business and presentation.”

“Really useful activity that helped me provide evidence for job applications due to the range of skills we conducted.”

Employers added praise for the approach, including Dr Alex Gharagozlow, Executive Director at Phenomenex: “Your initiative is immensely creative. It’s certainly one that other universities should attempt to emulate in producing graduates that are far better prepared for roles in industry. Phenomenex is very proud to support this activity and our CEO highlights this as a flagship educational task that will inspire students to understand industry”.